[Fe] Deep or Shallow?

[Dwigie]

You know a lot of people go around throwing the word "deep" and "shallow" around.
"Oh he's deep, oh she's shallow."

But first, I have a few questions for you people:

What is your definition of deep and shallow?

Which one do you consider yourself and why?

Which one do you consider most people you know or "at large" (and why)?

 

[Jack Flak]

It's relative, and it always will be. For me, perhaps, shallow is accepting, or taking someone's word for things, and deep is understanding them.

 

[animenagai]

deep just means looking past the surface. it's the act of not just making a claim without looking at any of the underlying problems. bush sucks? why does he suck? what are the patterns in his decision process that you don't like? two people can make the same claim with equal strength and be miles apart in terms of depth.

i think everything that you can call shallow or deep is derived from this. it's shallow to say that 'all muslims are violent' or 'all americans are rednecks' because that's just looking at what's on the surface ie. what you are told. depth is the constant process of asking 'why?' so you can go DEEPER into the subject.

i guess i consider myself deep. actually, i know i'm deep. too deep. so deep that i can make your average joe uncomfortable, especially in a philosophy class . it's just my nature i guess.

i consider the average population pretty shallow. i don't think people really understand what's going on behind the scenes. it's like they're watching a puppet show without knowing there's a puppeteer.

 

[disregard]

My definition of depth (when attributed to an individual) is an ability to understand.

Depth of feeling... ability to feel deeply.. a certain sensitivity to the good, bad, beautiful, ugly in an environment. "Soul."

Depth of thought.. Ability to think deeply. Philosophise and comprehend.

 

[Dwigie]

My definition of depth (when attributed to an individual) is an ability to understand.

Depth of feeling... ability to feel deeply.. a certain sensitivity to the good, bad, beautiful, ugly in an environment. "Soul."

Depth of thought.. Ability to think deeply. Philosophise and comprehend.

I don't like the words deep and shallow.. they are normative and annoying.

I don't mind the words but I don't like how people use them in my environment, especially the school one.

 

[chris1207]

i think everything that you can call shallow or deep is derived from this. it's shallow to say that 'all muslims are violent' or 'all americans are rednecks' because that's just looking at what's on the surface ie. what you are told. depth is the constant process of asking 'why?' so you can go DEEPER into the subject.

You're talking about critical thinking. If deep = someone who thinks critically about a situation/story/whatever then I am shallow. I just don't see the point in reflecting on something that I have an opinion on instantaneously. I like being shallow. I've said it before, ignorance is bliss. All I have to know about are the variables that are affecting my life directly. Who cares about Bush, Obama, so on and so forth. I don't know them. I never will. And what they do will only indirectly affect me, so there.

I do however, think quite a bit about the relationships that I have with people and how I can improve them...

 

[Dwigie]

deep just means looking past the surface. it's the act of not just making a claim without looking at any of the underlying problems. bush sucks? why does he suck? what are the patterns in his decision process that you don't like? two people can make the same claim with equal strength and be miles apart in terms of depth.

i think everything that you can call shallow or deep is derived from this. it's shallow to say that 'all muslims are violent' or 'all americans are rednecks' because that's just looking at what's on the surface ie. what you are told. depth is the constant process of asking 'why?' so you can go DEEPER into the subject.

i guess i consider myself deep. actually, i know i'm deep. too deep. so deep that i can make your average joe uncomfortable, especially in a philosophy class . it's just my nature i guess.

i consider the average population pretty shallow. i don't think people really understand what's going on behind the scenes. it's like they're watching a puppet show without knowing there's a puppeteer.

That's nice to know. I feel shallow though, ironically enough.
(By the way I know the anime your avatar is taken from, used to watch it as a kid : hilarious!)
Disregard, why does it bother you that the word is "normative"?
So in your opinion people are all on a spectrum of depth of feeling or thought or what? How does this work for you , I want more details.

 

[animenagai]

You're talking about critical thinking. If deep = someone who thinks critically about a situation/story/whatever then I am shallow. I just don't see the point in reflecting on something that I have an opinion on instantaneously. I like being shallow. I've said it before, ignorance is bliss. All I have to know about are the variables that are affecting my life directly. Who cares about Bush, Obama, so on and so forth. I don't know them. I never will. And what they do will only indirectly affect me, so there.

I do however, think quite a bit about the relationships that I have with people and how I can improve them...

honestly, i think that's dangerous. you will NEVER have a good understanding of all the things that affect you directly if you don't understand what's going on behind it. it's also quite dangerous to label something as relevant and forget everything else. okay, say you care about your taxes but not your president, how's that gonna make any sense when it comes to voting? furthermore, how can you make the best decision for yourself on voting day if you don't understand the economic crisis that is controlling all these decisions?

being deep is more than 'dude you have such a cool aura' or 'life is a journey not a destination'. it is getting to the core issues of whatever you are thinking about.

 

[Glycerine]

From my point of view:

Shallow- relating on a one-dimensional level Ex. Person 1: Brad Pitt has a nice bod. Person 2: Most definitely.

Deep: Connecting through multi-layers of understanding. Ex. Life is about perceptions and facades. There is no clear cut answer to any of life's mysteries.

I think most people have a "shallow" mask but once you get to know them, they can be surprisingly deep. I, for one, am one of those people.

 

[01011010]

Subjective. It depends on the individual. I don't consider the population at large as far as this idea is concerned.

 

[Eldanen]

I agree with most of the people in this thread that who is deep and who is shallow is mostly subjective. Someone might find X to be deep while another person will turn around and say that exact same thing is a shallow quality. I consider trading information with people to be something deep, because I'm sharing knowledge and knowledge is power, you know? But someone else, a more emotional person who likes to take things slow and personal might find that idea to be superficial. And actually, my best friend does find that idea to be superficial. So that's an example for you. The best way to be considered deep is to cross the boundary between intellect and intuition.

 

[Dwigie]

I'm tempted to drop a lot of random questions again but I'm scared it'll wander off like that chameleon thread.
I don't even consider people deep or not, I started realizing these two words existed one or two years ago, in english class. Heard it so many times flying around the room but it never really hit me then I asked myself what the words actually meant and I saw I simply attached one or the other to a "stereotype"and used it in english essay, that was the end of it. I beat myself up for being an idiot, moved on and wondered what the words actually meant if they didn't have much to do with the previous stereotypes.
Basically, that is my "relationship" to these two words.
(oh I hadn't noticed someone had already made a thread like this a while ago :S)

 

[Glycerine]

What is your take on deep vs. shallow after reading these responses?

 

[INTJMom]

To me, a shallow conversation is one about planting flowers, fixing cars and cooking.
A deep conversation would be about ideas and feelings and attempts at understanding the human heart.

 

[Glycerine]

To me, a shallow conversation is one about planting flowers, fixing cars and cooking.
A deep conversation would be about ideas and feelings and attempts at understanding the human heart.

I like your definition the best!

 

[Dwigie]

Well after reading people's posts, I think it's a matter of definition as I suspected and everyone defines this by first the whole concept of understanding", then what is to be understood goes from ideas to feelings.)

 

[GZA]

Its about layers for me. Something that is deep has more layers (i.e. of thought or emotion) while shallow is just very simplistic to the point of absurdity. I don't really use these terms though, because it's always hard to know. Sometimes depth is just kind of calculated vanity and sometimes shallow is just unexplained. I just look at what it is, I don't catagorize on depth.

 

[Dwigie]

Its about layers for me. Something that is deep has more layers (i.e. of thought or emotion) while shallow is just very simplistic to the point of absurdity. I don't really use these terms though, because it's always hard to know. Sometimes depth is just kind of calculated vanity and sometimes shallow is just unexplained. I just look at what it is, I don't catagorize on depth.

I kind of categorize, I just categorize naturally and I'll admit there's something a bit wrong to that =>"judging people".
But for this topic for some reason it rarely occurs.
Honestly though, don't you ever categorize a little? Now that you've made your two pools you're going to use them right? Someone's going to fall in these two categories in your opinion. I don't mean to say that you look around for people and "throw them" in there of course but you do use that pool once in a while don't you?
Since you think in layers, is there a "ground", a depth that has a limit, is there a point where you've shed all your "layers" and there is nothing more to see there?
(Just trying to see if there is a "limit" to depth...in people's opinion.)

 

[Eldanen]

Yeah, me neither but some people do, that's just "how they roll".
Since you think in layers, is there a "ground", a depth that has a limit, is there a point where you've shed all your "layers" and there is nothing more down there?
(Just trying to see if there is a "limit" to depth...in people's opinion.)

There is no depth limit. There's always a different perspective. Reality only exists as we perceive it. What is true is whatever is not on your list. Ultimate reality is always what is just beyond our perception. Even if you perceive everything, the perception of not-perceiving is beyond your grasp.

 

[GZA]

I kind of categorize, I just categorize naturally and I'll admit there's something a bit wrong to that =>"judging people".
But for this topic for some reason it rarely occurs.
Honestly though, don't you ever categorize a little? Now that you've made your two pools you're going to use them right? Someone's going to fall in these two categories in your opinion. I don't mean to say that you look around for people and "throw them" in there of course but you do use that pool once in a while don't you?
Since you think in layers, is there a "ground", a depth that has a limit, is there a point where you've shed all your "layers" and there is nothing more to see there?
(Just trying to see if there is a "limit" to depth...in people's opinion.)

There arn't two catagories though. If anything, it's a continuum. There can be more than two layers; layers can be added and piled up into a mountain or slowly stripped away into a valley, ect.

I don't really pass any judgement on where people stand because communicating with people is always a fairly inconsistent process. I'm not neccesarily hearing everything they are thinking, they arn't neccesarily articulating every thought they try to speak, and I'm not neccesarily understanding everything they articulate. To some degree you can tell how people are thinking and everything, but I don't concern myself too much with it... it's more like I let it happen and if it turns out to be "deep" or have layers or whatever then I take it (or leave it) for what it is.